Rescue from Homeworld
by dcatpuppet
Summary: When Steven and Connie are away from Beach City, Yellow Diamond finally makes her move by sending several Gems to Earth, including the suspicious Phantom Quartz and abduct nearly every resident in town, including the Crystal Gems! Now it's up to Steven, Connie and a few others to go to Homeworld to rescue their friends from the clutches of the enemy Gems, before the worse happens!
1. Prologue

_This is Peridot transmitting on all frequencies from abandoned crystal system colony planet Earth, to Yellow Diamond._

 _My mission has been compromised, my_ _escort_ _and_ _informant are gone and I am now stranded!_

 _Please send help!_

"Please send help! WHIIIRRR! Please send help! WHIIIRRR! Please send help!"

"Okay, Phantom, that's enough," a regal feminine voice ordered.

"Oh come on, I'm just having a little fun! It's so amusing to hear her sound so desperate!" a wicked masculine voice laughed, rewinding the last line one more time.

Inside a ginormous building on a planet not too far off from Earth, a figure was sitting in a chair, observing the message from Peridot, processing what the young gem said. She recalled a Gem named Lapis Lazuli returning to Homeworld after being trapped on Earth for a few thousand years, and she had revealed that the Crystal Gems were still alive and on Earth still, and Jasper, thinking Rose Quartz was among them, took the job as Peridot's escort to get rid of them so Homeworld could continue with their plans, with Lapis as the informant.

However, the ship's signal vanished just sometime after Peridot sent a message that they were leaving Earth, and there was no word on anything for a few weeks...until Peridot sent this message to Homeworld.

The mystery person stood up from her seat and exited from the room, with a stranger twice as tall as she was following close behind. "So, Yellow Diamond, what's our next course of action? Should we just leave Peridot, Jasper and Lapis on Earth and ignore the problem, or should we send a squad to retrieve them," the tall one asked the Gem named Yellow Diamond.

Yellow Diamond, one of the rulers of Homeworld, thought hard on the situation. On one hand, they shouldn't go to Earth because there were just three Gems that Homeworld could easily do without, especially since she had recently replaced Jasper as her right hand with the Gem by her side right now, Phantom Quartz; not many gems remembered who Lapis was, and Peridot could be easily replaced.

On the _other_ hand, they should go to Earth because there were only FIVE Crystal Gems left on the planet, which could allow Homeworld to have a chance to get rid of the group once and for all, and revive the Kindergarten, and Rose Quartz had reformed, supposedly in some sort of weak form according to Jasper, so she could possibly be easily disposed of to avoid any sort of interference.

"If this helps make your decision easier, Moss Agate informed me that he and the tech department may have figured out a use for the humans, other than kill them for Gem entertainment of course. He says it could benefit future invasions of other planets," Phantom Quartz advised his leader.

Yellow Diamond looked up at the tall Gem and asked, "Really? And what idea is that?"

"Well, it's pretty hard for a Gem like me to explain," Phantom stated. "He said humans could be used as an energy source for these special machines he's making. But he's not sure if it'll work, so he needs some actual humans to test it on. I was thinking we could retrieve a few of them for that purpose when we're on Earth."

"If it'll really benefit Homeworld, I suppose I could allow you to move forward with that plan. Alright, arrange to have a squad of gems sent to Earth to capture the Crystal Gems and Rose Quartz, retrieve Jasper, Lapis Lazuli, and Peridot, and abduct any humans within the area for Moss Agate's experiment. In the meantime, I'll wait for word of your success on Homeworld," Yellow Diamond ordered.

"Excellent!" Phantom Quartz exclaimed happily. "I'll choose any Gems that would be useful on this mission. You will not be disappointed!" And with that, the tall gem zoomed down the hall, being nothing but a white and slightly brown blur to Yellow Diamond's vision.

"So Rose, you're army has shrunken down to nearly nothing and you still believe you can protect Earth. We'll see about that," the Lead Gem sneered sinisterly.

 **Well, this is my first Steven Universe fanfic, and the message I obviously got from the Steven Universe episode,** ** _Cry For Help_** **, so the rights to those lines go to Rebecca Sugar.**

 **Peridot and Yellow Diamond are owned by Rebecca Sugar**

 **Phantom Quartz is one of the many Gem OCs that will be in this story**

 **What does Homeworld have in store for Steven and his friends on Earth. Find out in the first chapter of Rescue from Homeworld!**

 **Please Follow, Favorite and/or Review!**


	2. Cool for School

"A boarding school? What's that?"

Steven and Connie were sitting on a beach, the summer sun shining as brightly as it could. The Crystal Gems were all on a dangerous mission of some sort, but allowed the boy to hang out with his friend for the day while they were gone.

"Well, like public schools, they teach everything they usually teach, like history, math, English, and science, and like private schools, they have a couple extra classes, like foreign languages from far off countries and advanced classes for the usual subjects, only unlike those schools, you sleep at the boarding school. My parents are having me spend a school year there as a test to see if there's more progress than my old school," Connie explained.

"But you can come back to Beach City on the weekends right?" Steven asked, hopeful he might have a chance to see his friend during the school year.

"Actually, the boarding school I'm going to is really far from Beach City. It's at least a three hour drive," Connie answered. "So I don't know if I'll be able to come by on weekends. But there are school breaks in the fall, winter, and spring, so I might be able to come back then."

"Great, when's fall break?" Steven asked, excitedly.

"On the same week as Thanksgiving," Connie replied.

"Thanksgiving…" Steven groaned. "But that's a whole three months from now."

"Well, we could email each other so we can tell each other what's going on where we are...though, nothing exciting really happens at school," Connie suggested. "And I think the teachers and principal only allow students to email their family."

"You could say I'm family," Steven pondered. "You could say I'm your cousin Steven 10 times removed!"

"Um, I don't think that'll convince the staff at the school, but it was a good idea," Connie responded with a smile.

"If only there was a way for us to hang out for fall and you to learn stuff at school at the same time," Steven sighed, looking down at the sand, saddened that he wouldn't see his friend for a while. Then, the little boy's eyes lit up into stars and he exclaimed, "Wait! I think I have another idea!"

"What?" Connie asked, curious to hear this next plot.

"How about I ask my dad and the Crystal Gems to sign me up to the boarding school you go to?" Steven proposed happily.

"Well, it could work, but boarding school is very expensive. I'm not sure if your dad and the gems would be able to cover the costs for it," Connie warned her friend.

"But I can at least try, right? I know we'll figure something out," Steven said, starting to run back to his house to see if the Crystal Gems had returned. "I'll tell you how it turned out tomorrow!"

Later that evening, Steven had called Greg over to the house and had him, along with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, seated at the counter.

"I'm glad you all showed up for this important family meeting. The subject tonight will be involving this brochure," Steven greeted, placing a piece of paper on the table for everyone to see. On the top in big and bold print, it read Rebecca Sugar Elementary Boarding school.

"A flyer for a boarding school? Where'd you get that?" Greg asked, not recalling seeing them set out anywhere in town.

"Connie got it for me. She's going there this September, and due to this, she won't be able to come to Beach City as often as she used to. I was wondering if you'd let me go for a year," Steven explained.

"Steven, tuition for this school is around $1000 a month! I don't know if we'll be able to afford it," Greg admitted.

"But I'll be able to learn about science, math, and other smart stuff. Pearl always encourages me to learn new things," Steven stated.

"While that is true, there really wouldn't be much of a point of you learning all this human stuff. Some of it would never even apply to our missions, let alone in real life," Pearl explained. "Besides, you can already read, write, add and subtract, and that's pretty much the only knowledge you need to know."

"But I'd do practice work on it every day and improve my skills," Steven countered.

"But if you go to school, you wouldn't be able to come on missions with us anymore. What if we finally catch Peridot or find Malachite while you're gone?" Amethyst asked.

"But what if Jasper tries to hurt me again? I might be safe at the school. It's three hours away," Steven stated.

"Three hours! If it takes you that long to get home, you'll miss your dinner! And it'll be past your bedtime!" Pearl gasped.

"Connie says in boarding school, you stay in these dorm rooms at the school. And I'll have my three important meals of the day there," Steven explained.

"You actually live in the school? But who will help you with your homework? Wash your clothes?" Pearl worried.

"I'm sure I could do my own laundry, and I could ask a teacher or another student for help on my homework," Steven assured the Gem.

"True, but the issue about the tuition is still a problem. There's no way we'll be able to save 1000 dollars before September. We might need money for other things like food, band-aids, and to replace anything that gets broken," Pearl noted.

"Then I guess my plan to go to school with Connie really won't work out, huh?" Steven sighed. "I guess I'll just have to wait until November to see her again." And with that, the little boy trudged up the stairs to his room.

"I know, how about I enroll you into the public school Connie went to. This boarding school her parents are sending her is only just for a year as a test right?" Greg offered, following his son as Pearl and Amethyst went to their rooms, leaving Garnet in the kitchen.

The tall Gem tapped on her chin, trying to figure out what to do about Steven's dilemma of being without Connie for a few months. The two kids could just communicate on the phone or on the computer, but it wouldn't be the same as being actually there for each other.

Then, there was a floorboard shaking crash. "Amethyst! Was that from your room?" Garnet heard Pearl holler.

"How do you know it was my room? It could've been Garnet," Amethyst retorted.

"Amethyst, you're the only Gem in this temple whose room is cluttered with so much junk! Do you ever plan on getting rid of any of it?" Pearl shouted.

"Hey, it's my stuff! I decide what to do with it!" Amethyst argued.

Garnet rolled her three eyes; Amethyst was a bit of what humans would call a "hoarder". She'd find some random stuff and then store it into her room, whether she needed it or not. One of her junk piles reached so high it touched the ceiling!

A lot of the things were just things humans threw away, such as broken kitchen appliances and furniture, but she did come across a lot of Earth-grown minerals, crystals, and artifacts, which to be honest, was pretty cool.

Then, Garnet's eyes lit up. The Gem went into Amethyst's room, where the purple Gem was relaxing on an old sofa set on top of many others miscellaneous items into a perfect tower. "Amethyst," the dark red Crystal Gem said, quickly getting the short Gem's attention.

"What's up, Garnet?" Amethyst greeted her friend.

"You wouldn't happen to have that stash of artifacts, crystals and other valuable items in your room, would you?" Garnet asked.

"Oh yeah, I do. Man, that pile's packed! It's bigger than the house! Why do you ask?" Amethyst stated proudly.

"I think I may know a quick way to get the money for Steven's boarding school tuition."

A few days later, Steven met up with Connie again on the beach, who hadn't been able to come by the last few days due to her parents taking her shopping for school supplies and uniforms, which proved to be very stressful.

Steven had broken the news to his friend that he wouldn't be able to go to school with her, in which Connie responded, "That's too bad. But you're also kind of lucky. You wouldn't have to deal with the boredom of looking at nothing but pencil and notebooks on sale in stores for back-to-school shopping, or the stress of trying on a bunch of clothes that are the same to see which ones fit."

"Why did you have to go shopping for clothes?" Steven asked curiously.

"Well, there's a dress code at the school that involves having to wear a uniform. It's kind of time-consuming," Connie explained.

"You mean I wouldn't be able to wear my favorite shirts and sandals? Boarding school really is complicated!" Steven cried.

"Hey Steven!" a familiar voice hollered.

Steven looked over to his house to see Jamie the mailman standing at the bottom of the slope to his house.

"Jamie!" Steven shouted, running over to his friend with Connie following close behind.

"Hey, Steven, it's been a while," Jamie greeted the kid.

"So, what's in the mail today?" Steven asked.

"Not much, just this letter for a school called Rebecca Sugar Elementary," Jamie stated, pulling out a thing envelope.

"What!" Steven gasped, taking the letter and looking at the address. It was addressed to him, alright! And also his dad and the Crystal Gems.

"But, I thought you said you wouldn't be able to go?" Connie said, confused about the message.

"I have to show this to everybody! See ya later, Jamie! Come on, Connie!" Steven exclaimed, running up to his home.

Steven burst through the door, shouting, "Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst! I got a letter from the school I wanted to go to for some reason!"

"Oh, so it arrived," Garnet said, walking over to the young Crystal Gem and taking the letter.

"Did you guys...enroll me? How? I thought we didn't have the money to do it," Steven asked.

"Well, we looked through Amethyst's room and took all the things that were very valuable, looked for some good places to sell everything, and end up having more than enough to send you to school," Pearl explained.

"Really? Wow Amethyst, I didn't think you'd do that for me!" Steven said, amazed.

"Well, I didn't really need all the rocks and stuff we sold," Amethyst admitted.

"You don't need a lot of stuff in that room, Amethyst. I found about 20 broken toasters in that room," Pearl told the purple Gem.

"We wouldn't have been able to get rid of the broken stuff anyway. Who'd want a broken toaster?" Amethyst said.

"Does my dad know about this?" Steven inquired.

"We told him last night, but we also told him to keep it secret from you until we got the letter," Garnet explained. "You know, as a surprise."

"Wow! This is great! Now me and Connie can hang out at the school now! And I'll get to know what back-to-school shopping is like!" Steven exclaimed excitedly.

"Actually, there's no need to go shopping for everything you need. Like I said, we had more than enough to enroll you into that school for a year, so we used as much as their was left over to buy you the supplies you'd need and enough uniforms to last for two weeks," Pearl stated. "By the way, I recommend washing a load of your clothes on weekends so they'll be fresh every Monday, and also when you're wearing your second week's worth of uniforms, wash the ones you wore on the first week of school, and if you need help, call me and I'll sneak into the school and help you when nobody's around-."

"Steven will be just fine on his own Pearl. I know he can handle everything," Garnet interrupted the Gem. "Now Steven, going to school is a big responsibility, so you're going to have to do as good as you can in your classes, otherwise, you're going to risk getting in trouble with your teachers."

"I'll do my best! I won't let you down," Steven assured his friends. "Boy, I can't wait to go to the school! If all the students live there, I bet it's huge!"

A week later, Steven woke up to his early alarm of 4:30, so that he, his dad, and the Crystal Gems would get a good start to go on their way to Steven's school. The boy was already in his new uniform, which was just a white button-up shirt, some plain khakis, a dark green blazer, plain white socks, and black loafers.

He had his other uniforms packed up in one suitcase, a few t-shirts, jeans, and his usual sandals to wear on weekends in another, and all his school supplies and necessities such as soap and toothpaste in a third bad. There was also this strange paper bag that Pearl was clutching shut in her lap to keep Steven from taking a peek inside.

"What's in the bag," the boy finally asked after several failed attempts to get a look inside.

"You'll see when we get there," Garnet told the young half-Gem, who became even more curious.

Finally, the van arrived at the school building, where several other cars were pulling up into the parking lot and getting their kids into the building.

"Wow," Greg mentioned, looking at all the vehicles. "Looks like a lot of rich kids go here."

"How can you tell?" Steven asked his dad.

"I can see three Ferraris, a Mercedes, and a limo in the parking lot," Greg pointed out.

"Cool, a Ferrari! I hear they're really fast cars," Amethyst exclaimed.

"Amethyst, don't even think about it," Garnet told the purple Gem.

"About what?" Amethyst asked.

"You were going to sneak away and steal the car for a joy ride," Garnet stated.

"What! No I wasn't!" Amethyst argued. Then, after a few seconds, she laughed and admitted, "Okay, maybe I was a little."

"Amethyst, this is Steven's first day of school. What other people think about him will depend on us, since we're his caretakers. If we do something wrong, they'll think he's a troublemaker too," Pearl scolded the Gem.

"Fine, I'll behave. Sheesh," Amethyst gave in.

After Greg located a place to park, everyone got out of the van and went up the steps to the building. Along the way, Steven noticed a few students giving them a few weird looks, mostly annoyed. "Um, Dad, why are people staring?" the kid asked Greg.

"Don't let that bother you. Kids always give each other weird looks on the first day at a new school. It's probably because they've never seen you before. Remember, this is your first year here," Greg advised his son.

Steven nodded, but still felt a little nervous.

Once inside, Steven was taken to the principal's office to meet most of the chief staff, like the principals, secretaries, counselors and such, then, the group found his room.

Outside the door, Steven faced his family and said sadly, "Well, I guess this is my room."

"Yeah, looks like it is. Remember, if you ever need someone to talk to, just call us," Greg told his son.

"Yes, just what I was about to say; if you're homesick, call us; if you're actually sick, call us; if you get hurt in some way, call us; if you need help on homework, call us; and if anyone ever picks on you-" Pearl started to state until Garnet interrupted, "Call **me**." Then, the red Gem clamped her fists together, summoning her gauntlets.

"Garnet, I don't think it'll be necessary to use violence to deal with bullying. You could get arrested," Pearl told the Gem, whose gauntlets vanished.

"So, what was in the bag you've been carrying around?" Steven asked, hoping to finally get his answer.

"It's a bit of a parting gift we threw together. Take a look," Pearl explained, handing the boy the bag.

Steven looked inside to see a two picture frames, three plushy objects, and something wrapped in paper. "Wow," Steven said, removing the frames. Inside one images was a picture of the Crystal Gems and him in a group picture, and the other was the old one of Greg and Rose.

"Dad, isn't this your picture?" Steven asked his father, holding up the image for him to see.

"Yeah, it is, but I thought maybe you'd want it for your dorm room, you know, so you could think of me, and your mother," Greg stated.

"Okay, I'll take extra-good care of it," Steven vowed, holding the picture close to his heart.

Then, he looked into the bag some more and pulled out the three plush objects, which turned out to be plush doll replicas of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. "Wow, these are cool. When'd you make these?" he asked the Crystal Gems.

"Well, at first, we tried to make them individually, but Amethyst's turned out sloppy and Garnet got a little frustrated with sewing, so in the end, I had to make them," Pearl explained.

"Gosh Pearl, aren't you worried that Steven would be made fun of for having dolls," Greg concerned.

"There's nothing wrong with a boy keeping a few dolls in his room. Besides, we made them so Steven will know we're always looking out for him," Pearl stated.

"What's the thing wrapped in paper?" Steven asked, pulling out the last gift. He unwrapped it to reveal that it was a star-shaped pin with a few rhinestones on it; a red one in the bottom left point, a blue one in the bottom right, a purple one in the top left, a pearl one in the top right, and a pink on at the very top. In the center in bubble print read "Steven Universe".

"It's for you to pin to your blazer, to remind you that you are a Crystal Gem," Garnet stated.

"Wow, it's so cool-looking. Thanks for making this for me," Steven said, his eyes glowing as he pinned it to his coat.

After Steven dropped off his bags in his room, he and his family went back out front to say their final goodbyes.

"Well, Steven, looks like this is goodbye, but remember, it's not permanent. You'll come by on Autumn break, won't you?" Greg asked his son.

"Well, if you can get Lion to come over here and get me, I could get home faster so I can have more fun on vacation," Steven suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, and remember, Steven; we love you and care about you," Greg said. "So if you ever feel down, try to think about that."

"Thanks Dad," Steven said, giving his father a hug.

Steven then went over to the Crystal Gems, "Are you sure you'll be okay on missions?" he asked, concerned for his friends' safety.

"Don't worry, Steven, we're strong. We'll do our best to be careful," Garnet told the half-gem.

"And if we ever find Peridot and/or Malachite, we'll let you know as soon as we can," Pearl stated. "And if you want to know what happened on our latest mission, just give us a call once you're done with your homework."

"And try to relax on the weekends. I don't want you to turn into one of those school geeks," Amethyst told the boy.

"I'll do my best to try to be me," Steven saluted the purple Gem, then gave all the Gems a hug.

Once they parted, Steven went back inside the school, waving his family goodbye.

"There he goes," Pearl said, tears starting to flood her eyes. After a few seconds, Pearl cried out, "MY LITTLE BABY IS ALL GROWN UP!"

"Pearl! Seriously! Could you not wait until we got into the car!" Amethyst shouted, annoyed. "You're making a scene!"

"Let's just get to the van," Garnet said, dragging Pearl back to the vehicle with Amethyst and Greg following close behind.

* * *

 **Well, this is the first chapter. I hope you like it! Just so you know, in order for the plot to actually play out, Steven and Connie have to be outside of Beach City, specifically far enough to not notice what's going on in town.**

 **Basically, in the next chapter, Steven explores his school...and makes a new friend! :)**

 **What will be in store for him on his first day of boarding school? Find out in the next chapter of Rescue from Homeworld!**

 **Steven Universe is owned by Rebecca Sugar**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	3. First Day

Steven ran back up to his dorm room so he could unpack, but once he was there, there was a dark-skinned boy with thick square glasses, possibly his age, peering into the gift bag the Gems got for him.

"Hi," Steven greeted the other kid, who jumped in response and looked towards Steven.

"Oh, hi...sorry if I was being nosy, I was just curious about what was in your bad. I'll just back off," the boy stammered.

"Oh no, it's cool! Do you want to see what's in the bag?" Steven asked, not at all bothered by the other kid's actions.

Steven went to his bag and pulled out the two pictures. He showed his roommate the one of Greg and Rose. "That's my mom and dad," he stated. "My dad used to be a rock star, but now he runs a car wash, and gives guitar lessons! My mom cares a lot about the Earth and its creatures. She saw the beauty in everything and was very nice. At least, that's what my dad and the Crystal Gems told me."

"The Crystal Gems?" the boy asked, confused.

"Oh! That's the nickname of my...um...my aunts! Yeah! They're my mom's sisters," Steven fibbed, showing the picture of him and the Crystal Gems. "The one in red and black is Garnet. She's very protective of my and makes sure I don't get hurt. The one with the pointy nose is Pearl, she makes sure I'm healthy and clean, and that the house is clean. She likes things tidy. And the purple one is Amethyst, she's fun and cool, and likes to collect stuff."

"Collect stuff? Like what?" the boy asked.

"Well...basically everything. Most of it is junk, but there's a lot of cool stuff too, like old antique stuff. But she doesn't have that pile anymore. She, Garnet, and Pearl sold it all to get money for my tuition here," Steven explained.

"Oh, that's cool. I get your nickname for all three of them is too. It's because their names are after crystals, right?" the other kid guessed.

"Yeah! That's it!" Steven confirmed.

"What's your mom's name?" the kid asked.

"Rose Quartz," Steven stated.

"Her last name was Quartz! Cool!"

"Yeah, and it's my middle name too!"

"Man, I wish I had a middle name like that."

"Why? What's your middle name?"

The boy was silent for a few moments before saying, "Jocelyn."

"What's wrong with that?" Steven asked.

"It's a girl's name," the kid said.

"So? It sounds cool. But that's because I've never heard of it before. Say, what's your first name?" Steven asked.

"Oh man! I was talking to you for five minutes and didn't even introduce myself yet! My name's Noa. Noa Washington," the new kid stated.

"I'm Steven Universe," Steven introduced himself.

"Universe? That's your actual last name?" Noa asked.

"Yeah, it's on my dad's driver's license," Steven said.

"Cool," Noa complimented.

"So, what are your parents like?" Steven asked.

Upon saying that, Noa went sort of pale and stammered, "Um, well, my dad works at this big business that pays a lot, which is why I'm here, and my mom...well, she used to work in an art school and she was really nice, loving, and open-minded, kind of like your mom."

"Wow, they sound pretty cool," Steven said.

"Well, to tell you the truth, my dad doesn't really pay attention to me much, and my mom...she was killed in a car crash by a drunk driver when I was six," Noa admitted.

After saying that, Steven's eyes widened in surprise, by the fact that Noa told him those facts and the facts in general. "Oh, well, to tell you the truth, in a sense, my mom passed away too. She died when I was just a baby, so I never really knew her," Steven said sorrowfully.

"Really? Well, that's something we have in common. I'm sure your mother would've liked you, though. You're a good person. I wonder if my mom met your mom in Heaven," Noa said.

"I don't know...it'd be nice if they did," Steven said cheerfully.

"Yeah, it would be. They're probably up there, watching us grow and learn to be good people," Noa said, smiling a bit. "Well, we better get to class before we're late. We'll unpack during free time."

And with that, after Steven found a spot for his pictures on a table next to his bed, the two boys set out to located their homeroom.

"Wow! This school is huge! Look at how many dorm rooms there are. There must be hundreds!" Steven exclaimed.

"Now I know you're new here. Yeah, this school kind of has to be big in order to house about 200 students. Then there's the gym, the cafeteria, the auditorium, and a blacktop outside," Noa stated.

"What are those places?" Steven asked curiously.

"You mean the gym, cafeteria, auditorium and blacktop? They're-Hold on a sec, were you homeschooled for most of your life?" Noa asked, confused.

"Well, yeah. I live in a town called Beach City. They...don't have a nearby school I could go to," Steven explained.

"Oh that makes sense. What do you know?" Noa asked.

"Just about reading, writing, and Gem culture," Steven answered.

"Oh, that's good. At least you know the basic stuff, but there's some things that I don't think you've been educated on that you need to catch up on, like US history, science, and mathematics," Noa said. "But I'll help you with that."

"Oh good, because I don't want anyone to make fun of me for getting something wrong. They don't test you on the first day, do they?" Steven worried.

"Sort of, it's like a short review on stuff we're going to learn this year. Don't freak out if you get a few wrong, but just try to stay calm if the teacher wants to see you after class. If she asks about the review, just tell her you were homeschooled on reading and writing, and she'll go easy on you," Noa advised.

"Okay," Steven said, as they entered their classroom.

It was already crowded with students, many of them talking to one another about their summer vacation and after school plans.

Upfront, Connie was by herself, reading a book of some sort. "Connie!" Steven greeted his friend, running over to her.

"Steven," Connie responded, smiling happily.

Noa looked a little uncomfortable and nervous as he approached the girl.

"I thought I saw you in the hall, but I couldn't run to greet you because I was busy unpacking my stuff with my parents. My mom was crying most of the time, mainly because this is the first time I'll be away from home for a long time," Connie explained.

"Aw, really. Well, you might want to call her when classes are over, so she can talk with you. That's the advice my dad gave me," Steven stated.

"Hmm, maybe I will," Connie said. "So, who's your new friend?"

Noa's face turned red and he answered, "Oh, I'm Noa Washington. Steven's roommate."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Connie," Connie greeted. "Are you okay? You look nervous."

"Oh! Sorry, it's just that I'm kind of shy around girls," Noa explained.

"I see," Connie said. Then, a wet ball of paper collided with the side of the girl's face, resulting in her yelping in surprise and remove it with disgust.

"What's that?" Steven asked.

"A spitwad," Connie groaned as a chorus of malicious laughter went off a few desks behind her.

The trio looked back to see a small clique of girls pointing at Connie, teasing her. The leader, a blonde, snickered, "No, leave it on, Maheswaran, it distracts people from your big nose!"

Connie gritted her teeth in annoyance and looked away, but the girl kept shooting spit wads at her, mostly at her blazer, face and hair.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Steven shouted. "It's not nice!"

"Why do you care?" the blonde asked the half-gem.

"Because Connie's my friend! What'd she ever do to you?" Steven asked.

"She's my roommate, and I wanted my best friend to share my dorm with me. It's not fair!" the yellow-haired girl sneered.

"My fri-I mean, aunt Pearl says you can't always get what you want and life isn't always fair. That's what my mother told her when they were young," Steven stated.

The blonde stared at him, as if taking his words into thought; however, this was disproven when she snarked, "Oh, what do you know, fat kid." The girl then proceeded to throw balled up paper and erasers at Steven and Connie.

"Hey! I told you to stop! Quit it!" he hollered as some of the other kids in the classroom began to laugh at them.

Noa just took a few steps back, pretending not to know them and not wanting to get involved.

After a few moments, Steven became frustrated by the ordeal and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I SAID STOP!"

Within seconds, Steven's shield appeared in front of him, preventing any more projectiles from hitting him and Connie. Upon seeing the feat, the class half-gasped, half-shrieked in extreme shock. Once Steven saw what he had done, his eyes became wide as big as teacup saucers and his skin went pale.

"Uh oh," Connie muttered.

After a few seconds of silence, Steven did a weak laugh, grabbed the shield and said nervously, "It's um, a frisbee. A really bowl-like frisbee." He then grabbed the shield and threw it out of a open window. "See?" he said, pointing out the window.

Noa stepped up to his new friend and said, "You realize that you just lost that frisbee forever right? There's some dense woods near the blacktop and it looked like it went pretty far, so it's probably there now."

"Don't worry, it'll disappear after a while," Steven assured his friend.

"It'll what?" Noa asked as an adult walked into the room.

"Never mind! Teacher's here! Class is starting!" Steven announced, avoiding Noa's question and getting into a seat.

As Noa sat at his own desk, he stared at Steven sceptically.

Later that afternoon, the class was in another room, working on drawings as their first lesson of class. Noa went over to the table where Steven and Connie were working on their pictures alone and tapped on Steven's shoulder, where the former jumped in surprise and fear until he realized who had gotten his attention. "Oh, hi Noa," he greeted.

"Hey Steven, um, I have a couple of questions for you. About the incident in class this morning," Noa said.

Steven began sweating bullets, trying to think of an explanation for where the shield came from, but so far, no luck.

After at least a minute, Connie sighed, "If it'll make you feel better, Steven, I'll try to explain everything."

Steven thought about it for a second and then nodded in agreement.

Connie looked around for a few moments, making sure that nobody would listen in, and then quietly informed Noa, "Steven isn't exactly fully human."

"What!? What do you mean?" Noa asked, really baffled.

"My mom was an alien from another planet. That's why she and the Crystal Gems don't look like normal people," Steven explained. "But I'm surprised you didn't notice since my mom has pink hair and Amethyst has purple skin and white hair."

"I thought your mom and aunt dyed their hair, and that your aunt Amethyst painted her skin," Noa admitted.

"Why would someone paint their skin?" Steven asked, confused.

"I thought she cosplayed," Noa said sheepishly.

"What's cosplay?"

"...Another day, maybe. So, what kind of aliens are they? Where are they from? Mars? Venus? Pluto?!" Noa asked.

"The Gems didn't give us a specific name, but they call it Homeworld. It's not exactly in our solar system," Connie explained. "

Hmm, what's it like on Homeworld? What sort of culture is it? The government? Religion? Social life?" Noa questioned.

"I don't know, Pearl and Garnet never said anything. All I know is that their technology is more advanced than it was 5000 years ago and that they tried to take over the Earth," Steven admitted.

"Take over the Earth?! When did that happen?" Noa asked frantically.

"More than 5000 years ago?" Steven guessed.

"Why? What did they want?" Noa questioned.

"Well, they were making new Gems in the Earth's soil in a place Steven said was called Kindergarten," Connie explained. "That's where Amethyst came from. But there was a major drawback; it sucked nutrients from the soil and was actually harming the planet."

"Wow, that's terrible. But why is it not happening now?" Noa asked, curiously.

"Oh, my mom started a rebellion to put an end to it. Remember when I told you she really cared about the Earth, that's how much she cared about it," Steven explained. "It's been at peace for 5000 years...but, now Homeworld is trying to take the planet back and restarted the Kindergarten again. And my mom isn't around to help, so it's just me, Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst left to protect the Earth." Steven looked over at his friend Noa to see his skin was a **LOT** lighter than usual, his eyes were huge behind his glasses, his mouth was clenched shut and there was this long, weird squeak sound coming from him.

Steven groaned and said, "I shouldn't even be telling you all this."

Noa snapped out of his frightened state and objected, "No! It's okay! It's just that the fact about aliens threatening to take out planet and destroy all life kind of freaked me out."

"Are you sure?" Steven concerned.

"Yeah, it's fine. Say, have you ever met any Homeworld Gems, other than your family?" Noa asked, changing the topic.

"Well, there's Peridot; she was put in charge of restarting the Kindergarten, but me and the Gems stopped her, but she's stuck on Earth now and we can't find her. There's also Jasper, but she's kind of mean. And then there's Lapis Lazuli; she's actually really nice, but she doesn't like the other Gems because she was trapped in a mirror for a long time and was set free about a year ago. I helped her get back to Homeworld by healing her Gem so she could fly home, but then, she came back with Jasper and Peridot, and well...it's pretty tough for me to explain. I don't like talking about it," Steven stated.

"Oh, it's okay. Whatever happened must have been hard on you. I'll stop the questions there," Noa said. "It's actually kind of cool that your half-alien. And to hear all that stuff. It makes me think there's more to the history of the world than there actually was."

Steven smiled at his friend, then at Connie, who was smiling because she was glad that Noa took the information so well, and then down at his drawing; a picture of him, his dad, the Crystal Gems...and Lapis.

Later that evening, Steven was on the phone, talking to the Crystal Gems about his day at school.

"Well," Pearl said. "It's good to hear that you're learning interesting stuff at school, even though some of the things in history is slightly inaccurate, but it's best if humans didn't know what really happened when Columbus first came to America. So, did anything else happen? Did you see Connie? Made any new friends?"

"Yeah, I have a friend named Noa. He's my roommate in my dorm room. He's pretty cool," Steven stated. "And Connie's doing fine, except…"

"Except what, Steven? Is she homesick?" Pearl asked, concerned. "If she is, I'll let Mrs. Maheswaran know."

"No, it's not that, it's just...well, in class this morning, this group of girls were picking on her and shooting spitballs at her head."

"What's a spitball?" Pearl asked, curious.

"Oh, it's when you chew on a small ball of paper, put it into a straw, blow into the straw, and shoot it at someone. It doesn't hurt, but it's annoying," Steven explained.

"That's disgusting! Kids chew things up in their mouths and spit them out through straws at innocent people! That must be horrible!" Pearl shrieked.

"Yeah! Maybe I should try it on Pearl," Amethyst said.

"Don't you even think about that, Amethyst!"

"But that's not the worst part; I was trying to defend Connie, but they started aiming at me, and I got a little mad, and...I summoned my shield to protect her," Steven said.

"Did you hurt the girls picking on Connie?" Garnet asked.

"No, but I think I scared them."

"Good, you struck fear into their hearts."

"Garnet! Steven, please don't do that again! I don't want your school to know about your powers. They might send you to a lab somewhere to be experimented on by scientists and we'll never get to see you again!" Pearl shrieked.

"Don't worry, nobody questioned the shield. I lied and said it was a frisbee, then I threw it out the window to get rid of the evidence," Steven told the Gem. "Oh thank goodness."

"But, my friend, Noa, asked me about it during art class, so me and Connie explained to him that I was half alien. He actually took it pretty well. He's even interested in Gem culture now."

"Really? That's surprising," Pearl said.

"Yeah, at least another human here is okay with what I am," Steven said positively.

"True, but please be careful from now on," Pearl warned.

"Okay...so, any sign of Lapis, Jasper, or Peridot?" Steven asked.

"Not today, but don't worry. We're doing our best and we'll find them as soon as we possibly can," Garnet told the boy.

"Okay, Garnet. Talk to you guys tomorrow. I love you. Tell my dad and my other friends in Beach City I said hi, especially to Onion. He probably doesn't even know I'm here," Steven said.

"I'm planning on seeing Vidalia this week, so I'll talk to him then," Amethyst said.

"Thanks Amethyst. Bye guys," Steven said, hanging up the phone and going back to his dorm.

* * *

 **Well, that's how Steven's first day went! He summoned his shield trying to defend Connie from a mean bully and then later explained some Gem culture and History to his new friend, Noa Washington.**

 **The next chapter will mostly be around the Gems, specifically about Steven's friends learning about where the he is at the moment, and also a big surprise! Feel free to guess what it is!**

 **Rebecca Sugar owns Steven Universe**

 **I own Noa Washington**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	4. Meanwhile in Beach City

After a week at the boarding school, Steven began to settle in and became more accustomed to his class schedule. It was actually kind of interesting to learn all the things normal kids learned in school, and he was glad he had decided to go to there.

Back in Beach City, the Crystal Gems didn't have many missions to do lately, in fact, things have been quite peaceful. It was good to relax once in a while, but after going a week without having to fight any Gem monsters, it got a little...boring.

After a while, they each decided to individually explore the town to see if there was anything they could do to help the citizens of Beach City. Amethyst went down to the Big Donut to grab her usual batch of dozen to see Sadie standing readily at the counter and Lars lazily leaning back in a chair as usual. "Hey Sadie! My usual dozen please," Amethyst said.

"Got it," Sadie said, unfolding a box and putting 12 of the circular pastries inside as the purple Gem got out some money. "Hey Amethyst, where's Steven been lately? I have seen him come by for a week. Is he sick?" Sadie asked, curiously, wondering where the kid was.

"Oh no, Steven's fine. He's just doing school stuff like other kids do," Amethyst explained.

"School? Since when did Steven go to school? Doesn't he just hang out on the beach and go on these 'missions' you 'Crystal Gems' do?" Lars asked.

"Just last week. He wanted to go to this boarding school with his friend Connie so she wouldn't be without any friends," Amethyst stated.

"Aw, that's so sweet," Sadie said, smiling.

"I think it's stupid," Lars degraded. "He was so free before, and lucky too! For years he went wherever he want and did what he want without having any teachers to harass him for it. Now, this year, he threw all that freedom away just so that one of his friends wouldn't be lonely. Connie couldn't just made new friends at the school?"

"Actually Connie had it rough on the first day. Steven said this girl in class was picking on her about her nose. But Steven stood up for her," Amethyst told the teenager.

"Really? I feel really bad for Connie. People just to pick on me for my height and weight, but after a few years, I made friends and learned to shrug it off," Sadie sympathized. "Good thing Steven was there to help her."

"Yeah, that's Steven for ya. Well, see you later!" Amethyst said, exiting the donut shop.

At that moment, Pearl was making her way down the boardwalk when she heard a familiar voice holler, "Hey Pearl!"

The Gem looked to her left to see Peedee Fryman at his usual spot at the takeout window of the Beach Citywalk Fries.

"Oh, Peedee, how are you?" the Crystal Gem asked, walking over to the window.

"Pretty good, but I haven't seen much of Steven lately. He hasn't stopped by for Fry Bits or anything all week. Is he okay?" Peedee concerned.

"Steven's fine, he's been at boarding school for a week," Pearl explained.

"Boarding school? Really? I didn't think Steven went to a school at all," Peedee said.

"Well, he does now. If you're wondering when you'll see him again, you'll see him in November, when school's on break for a few days. Then again, in December for two weeks, March for one week, and then he's back in June for three months. This is only just a test though to see if he likes going to school there. So far, he hasn't complained," Pearl informed the boy.

"Why is he going to a boarding school. Isn't there a public school in a nearby town?" Peedee asked.

"Steven chose a boarding school because his friend Connie is going there, and well, him being worried about his friend being alone, he decided to join her on the road of education. He's supposed to call us tonight. I'll tell him you said hi and that you miss him," Pearl explained, before walking back to the temple.

Later that day, Amethyst, finishing off the last piece of cardboard on the donut box, was walking down the sidewalk to Vidalia's house.

She knocked on the door, where the blonde-haired women answered, "Amethyst. Glad you could make it."

"What's up, Vidalia. How's Onion and Sour Cream doing?" Amethyst asked her friend.

"Well, Sour Cream is in town hanging out with his friends, and Onion is-," Vidalia started saying until her youngest son peered through the door and looked around.

The little boy stepped outside and looked around the front porch, then into some nearby shrubs and finally looked at Amethyst quizzically.

"Are you looking for Steven, Onion?" the Purple gem asked the kid.

Onion nodded, wanting to know where his friend was.

"Oh, sorry little dude. Steven's at school right now. He won't be back in town until about November," Amethyst replied.

Upon saying that, Onion looked down at the ground, a little disappointed that he wasn't going to see his friend for some time.

"But hey! Pearl says is you're very patient, he'll be back in town before you know it, you just have to find something to pass the time," Amethyst advised the kid.

Onion seemed to think about it for a second before smiling and nodding.

"Good to see you understand. How about you hang out with me and your mom tonight. We'll play some games or watch a movie or something," Amethyst suggested.

Onion nodded again and ran inside the house to his room to find a video to watch.

"Do you think he'll be okay without Steven around?" Amethyst asked Vidalia.

"Oh, don't worry. Onion will be find. It'll be like when his dad is out fishing every few weeks. He's a patient little guy," Vidalia assured the Gem. "He always finds a way to keep himself occupied."

In the evening, Greg was sitting in a lawn chair in front of his car wash, waiting to see if anyone would stop by, but so far, no luck. Greg was used to Steven going on missions with the Gems every now and then, but it would be difficult to not be able to see him until mid-November. He missed having water fights, giving advice, and playing guitar with his son, but it was part of the deal of sending your kid to school; you get lonely.

Then, a car pulled up near the building, and Greg jumped out of his seat, ready to get to work. The visitors turned out to be none other than the Maheswarans.

"Well, things definitely seem a little slow for you today," Mr. Maheswaran said, looking at the car wash building.

"Yeah, that happens when fall starts. The town doesn't get much business," Greg stated. "So, how are your lives doing without Connie around? The days seem to drag on longer now since Steven's gone to school. It makes me wonder how he's doing without me and the Crystal Gems around."

"Yeah, the same has been going on at our house. Without Connie, there's not much to launder, I don't have to drop her off or pick her up from tennis practice, and I can't really check in on her that often. The phone lines at the school are usually very busy in the first few weeks due to a lot of homesick kids, but Connie's very bright for her age, so I know she's doing fine," Dr. Maheswaran stated.

"Yeah, that's true. So, is there anything I can do for you two while you're here?" Greg asked.

"Actually, our car does need to be washed," Mr. Maheswaran stated.

"Great, I haven't gotten any customers today. I'll get right to it."

Later that night, the Crystal Gems were waiting for Steven to call them, but so far, nothing. "He probably has a lot of homework tonight, or there are a lot of kids in line calling their parents and guardians. Let's just call him in the morning," Pearl said.

"Okay, but I like to sleep in in the morning, so tell him I said hi," Amethyst said, walking towards the door to her room.

Pearl turned off the light and was about to follow suit but Garnet remained in the main room of the house, staring at the screen door.

"Garnet, is something wrong?" Pearl asked, concerned about the fusion's state.

After a few seconds, Garnet quickly ordered, "Hide somewhere out of view of the door!"

This command made Pearl and Amethyst jump, but they obeyed their friend. Pearl went up to where Steven's room was and crouched down behind the TV. Amethyst shapeshifted into a mouse and went under the coffee table. Garnet stood behind a tall stack of rocks.

All eyes were on the front door.

Not even a moment later, green fingers tore through the net screen, grabbed the handle, unlocked the door, and a familiar green Gem entered the house. "Now, where did those Crystal Clods put it?" Peridot muttered to herself, scanning the room.

After roaming around the area for a while, the modern Gem had come across the Crystal Gems hideout, so, knowing that they had her escape pod and her foot, she decided to bust into their base and take them back. Especially since Yellow Diamond was taking forever to retrieve her, she was beginning to get impatient, _and_ was getting annoyed from hopping on one foot.

The olivine noticed the door on the other side of the room and quickly hopped over, grinning to herself. "My stuff has to be somewhere in there! They have to be!" she thought.

She stood in front of the door for a few moments, waiting for it to automatically open like all the doors on Homeworld did, but considering it was old Gem tech, she decided to conclude it couldn't do that. "Argh, how do you open this stupid thing," she murmured, banging on the rock.

"Your Gem has to match one of the Gems on the door in order to open," Amethyst told her.

Peridot grumbled and hissed, "I could've figured that out!"

Then, after processing the owner of the voice, the Homeworld Gem quickly turned around to see the purple one standing right behind her. Peridot jumped at the sight of the Gem and quickly turned one of her hands into helicopter mode, taking off into the air.

"Oh no you don't," Pearl said, leaping from the second floor and latching onto Peridot's legs, adding weight to her.

"Oh come on! You're here too!" Peridot whined.

"We all are," Garnet said, grabbing one of Pearl's legs, keeping the Green gem from escaping. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's illegal to break into someone else's house?"

"For for crying out loud…" Peridot fumed before changing her other hand into her laser gun and aimed at Pearl.

Pearl yelped and released the Homeworld Gem just when the olivine fired, instead hitting the kitchen counter, burning off part of it.

Peridot blasted another hole in the roof and hovered outside. "You'll never catch me! Never!" she shouted at the Crystal Gems.

"Wanna bet?" Amethyst asked, climbing through the hole, summoning her whip and using it to latch onto one of Peridot's legs.

"Ah! Get off me, you clod!" the modern Gem commanded.

Amethyst shapeshifted into the Purple Puma, hoping it would add more mass and lower herself and Peridot to the beach. Lucky for her, it did.

Peridot's arm began to get tired and after a while, she and Amethyst were just standing on the Beach, a few feet away from each other. Peridot broke off the whip and proceeded to start hopping away, Amethyst following close behind.

Pearl and Garnet then ran outside, trying to keep up with the two other Gems, when suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"What's going on now?" Pearl asked frantically, looking around, trying to find the sort of the earthquake.

The residents of Beach City must've been wondering the same thing, because they were all clinging to anything nearby to keep their balance and looked just as confused as she did.

The question was answered when a huge blue-green hand burst out of the ocean and grabbed onto the beach. Within seconds, right before everyone's eyes, Malachite emerged from the water, slowly and almost weakly walking onto the beach, before quickly collapsing.

"Malachite!" Garnet gasped.

The big fusion glared at the smaller one and growled, "YOU!" Then, the monster split apart back to its two original Gems, Lapis Lazuli and Jasper.

Jasper immediately got to her feet, glaring daggers at Garnet and snarled, "You Crystal Gems! I finally have another chance to destroy you! I would've done it sooner if some blue Gem didn't betray me."

Lapis got on her knees, moaning a bit and looked around. She saw the Crystal Gems, but someone was missing. "Where's Steven?" she asked, confused.

"I believe you mean, ROSE QUARTZ!" Jasper snapped.

"Shut up, Jasper!" Garnet shouted at the orange Gem. The fusion looked over at Lapis and stated, "He's not with us right now, but I promise you, he's safe. Just sit tight while we deal with Jasper and Peridot."

"Oh, thank diamond," Lapis muttered, before falling face-first into the sand.

Then, Greg and the Maheswarans drove up in their vehicles, with Greg jumping out first. "What's going on here!? We saw something big climb out of the water from where we were and-Oh my gosh, are those the Homeworld Gems Steven told me about," he asked, noticing Jasper and Peridot.

"Yep, Lapis is here too," Garnet stated, pointing at the seemingly unconscious Gem.

"Is she alright?" Dr. Maheswaran asked, concerned for the she-gem's health.

"Don't worry, she doesn't seem to be in a very bad condition. She'll get her energy back in a few minutes," Garnet told the doctor.

"Who are these people?" Mr. Maheswaran asked Greg. Greg sweat nervously before stammering, "Aliens from another planet."

"If we hadn't met Alexandrite and the Crystal Gems, we would've thought you were being crazy, but now, we actually believe you," Dr. M admitted.

"So, what are you waiting for? Let's beat these clods into the earth they love so much!" Peridot exclaimed.

"I was just about to get to that," Jasper said, grinning menacingly and summoning her helmet.

"Are you sure it's us that's going down and not you?" Garnet said, whipping out her gauntlets.

"Trust me, I'll win this time, and when I do, you're all going to be nothing but dust," Jasper sneered.

However, before the Gems could engage in combat, there was a glowing ball of light coming towards them from the sky.

"What is that?" Pearl asked, surprised.

Peridot looked up at the unidentifiable flying object before gritting her teeth and shouting, "It's about time!"

* * *

 **Well, Peridot, Lapis Lazuli and Jasper have made their return, the surprise I had mentioned in the end of the last chapter! But now something else has shown up and it seems like heliodor's about to break loose! (get is, heliodor is supposed to a gem play on the word hell and the phrase "hell's about to break loose" and-oh never mind!)**

 **Who is this surprise visitor that Peridot seems to so annoyed and somewhat glad to see?**

 **What will happen to the Crystal Gems once this invader arrives?**

 **What is Steven doing? Find out in the next chapter of Rescue from Homeworld!**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	5. An Empty City

The next morning, Steven's eyes shot open and he quickly sat up in bed. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that something...was terribly wrong. He looked over one the side of the room where Noa resided, to see his roommate still asleep, and then at his desk where his family pictures were.

The one of Greg and Rose was still sitting there, as always, but the one of him and the Crystal Gems was gone! "Ahhh!" he screamed, causing Noa to literally jump out of bed, asking frantically, "What?! What!?"

"The picture of me and the Crystal Gems is gone!" Steven exclaimed fearfully.

Noa quickly put his glasses back on and looked around the room, until he saw the picture frame lying facedown on the floor. "It's on the floor. It must've fallen off your desk somehow," the boy said, picking up the picture and looked at it.

When he did, his eyes got a little wide.

"What's wrong?" Steven asked, getting out of bed and walking over to his friend.

"I think when the picture fell, the frame struck the floor sort of hard and caused the glass to crack a bit," Noa stated, handing the possession to his friend.

Steven looked at the picture to see where the cracks were and became saddened. "Oh no!" he cried. "The cracks went right onto Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl's faces!"

"Is the actual picture okay?" Noa concerned.

Steven removed the image from the frame, looked over it, and smiled; it had not been damaged when the frame fell. "Yeah, it's still in good condition!" he stated happily.

"Oh good, then that makes the problem a little easier to handle; you can just call your aunts and ask them to send a new frame over to the school.," Noa suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good plan. Besides, I forgot to call them last night because of homework. I bet Pearl became worried when I didn't contact them," Steve agreed, setting the photo on his desk and threw out the busted frame.

The two boys got into their uniforms as quickly as possible and made their way to class. Along the way, Noa mentioned out of nowhere, "You know, I heard a superstition that when a framed photo of someone you love and care about falls off something and the glass cracks over their face, it usually means something bad happened to them."

"Really?!" Steven gasped, thinking about how the Gems were doing at the moment.

"Relax, it's just a myth. And it also creates and interesting plot device in stories, especially if it's a movie or graphic novel of some sort," Noa stated.

"Huh, that actually is pretty cool. Maybe I should tell Connie that and see if we can figure out where it comes from," Steven said. "Well, I better get to the office phone before someone else does. See you in class."

"Later, Steven," Noa said, carrying on his way to the classroom.

Steven went down the next hallway to the office, where a secretary was at her usual position while the Principal and a few other staff members watched the news on a TV in the room.

Steven went up to the secretary desk and asked, "Um, excuse me? Can I call my aunt Pearl? I forgot to call her last night and she gets really anxious if I don't call her."

"Okay," the lady said, motioning towards the phone.

Steven grabbed the phone and dialed his house. He waited a few moments as the dial tone buzzed, until there was the sound of somewhere answered, where he was about to speak when he heard " _Hi, this is the house of Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. We're probably on some big mission right now, so please leave a message and we'll get back to you soon. Thank you!"_

Then, there was the usual voicemail beep, making Steven really confused. "Voicemail? Isn't Pearl supposed to be awake right now? They couldn't have gone on a mission this early in the morning, could they?" Steven thought, very confused.

Then, there was a big news bulletin on the TV. "This just in, all the residents of a small beach town had vanished at some point overnight," said the anchorman.

Upon hearing "small beach town", Steven turned around to look at the screen, curious to know what was going on.

"Earlier this morning, a few tourist stopped by in this town for a small vacation, but were surprised to see a lot of the buildings severely damaged and nobody to be found, even the mayor.  
Weather forecasters stated that there were no alerts for storms in that area, so the chances of a hurricane doing this damage is very unlikely, but some have noted on the beach were these big holes in the sand that were at least 2 meters wide and one meter deep, leading to speculation of aliens being involved by local conspiracists.

Also on the site of mystery, officials found what appeared to be pieces of a shotgun lying on the sidewalk, appearing to have been taken apart by someone, and most of the damaged buildings showed signs of break-ins. The small town was known to the locals of a nearby suburb as Beach City," the newsman explained.

But Steven didn't have to hear the name of the town to know what it was. He recognized everything; the Funland theme park, the Arcade, the Fish Stew Pizza shop, the Fry Shack, where the front of the building seemed to have been torn down, and the Big Donut, where the iconic donut sign on top was lying on the ground. Then, the image showed his Greg's car wash, luckily undamaged, where Mr. Universe's van and the Maheswarans' car were sitting outside.

"What happened?" Steven asked out loud.

One of the teachers looked over at him and explained, "Well, like he said, nobody knows, but it's always very peculiar when something like this happens. It scares me. Why do you ask?"

"...that's where I live," Steven answered flatly before running out of the room. he dashed down the hall to his classroom, practically bursting through the door, screaming, "CONNIE!"

Everyone was in the middle of talking amongst themselves while they waited for their teacher to show up, so of course, everyone jumped in shock, but after a few moments, they proceeded with their conversations.

"Steven! What's wrong?" Connie asked, immediately concerned.

"Everyone in Beach City is gone!" Steven cried, tears dripping from his eyes.

"What are you talking about? How do you know this?" Connie asked, more worried than ever.

"Well, I was trying to call Pearl, but she didn't pick up, which was a little weird, and then, the news came on and it said that parts of the town was destroyed and everyone was missing. Even your parents are gone! There car was in front of my dad's car wash!" Steven panicked.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Connie replied flatly, her eyes wide in horror.

"He's telling the truth," Noa confirmed, walking over to his friends and staring at his tablet. They even have a list of missing people."

"Read the names!" Steven pleaded, worried about who was possibly abducted.

"Let's see, Greg Universe, Connie's parents, the Pizza family who ran Fish Stew Pizza, the Fryman family that ran the Beach Citywalk Fries, Mr. Smiley who ran the Funland Arcade and theme park, two people that worked for the postal service, one of them being the mother of a person that worked at the Big Donut shop, who is also missing, along with her coworker, Mayor Dewey and his son, and a fisherman and his family of four. It doesn't mention the Crystal Gems though, but that's probably because they're not really citizens of Earth," Noa read aloud.

"Oh man, this is really bad," Steven said. "Everyone I ever knew and cared about has been abducted!"

"We have to go back! There has to be someone who hadn't been taken and is probably just hiding from the invaders," Connie stated.

"That's impossible! The place is probably crawling with FBI and CIA agents right now; they'll never let you in to investigate. And besides, isn't that town three hours from here?" Noa asked.

"There has to be some way to get there quickly," Steven said, tapping on his chin. Then, there was a loud roar coming from outside. The trio ran to the window and looked outside to see a familiar pink big cat sitting outside on the blacktop.

"Lion!" Steven gasped, surprised to see his feline friend sitting outside.

"How'd he know where the school was? And secondly, how'd he get here so soon?" Noa asked, confused about how the big cat got there.

"Lion can create portals. He probably got back through one," Connie explained to the boy, whose eyes widened in amazement.

"Well, at least we know not everyone in town was taken. He must've escaped somehow," Steven said, smiling happily.

"We have our getaway transport, but when can we sneak out of the school? If we leave now, the teachers and staff will definitely notice," Connie cautioned.

Noa then informed, "During lunch hour, we can go freely about the school, even onto the blacktop! We can get out of here then."

"Sounds like a plan, but we're going to have to stop by our rooms and get our casual stuff on before we leave. If we're going to go on some sort of dangerous mission, I don't want to ruin my uniform. My parents will get really mad if anything happens to it," Connie stated.

"Good point, so we better take detours to our rooms and ditch the school uniforms, but that'll make it harder to go around. If a teacher sees one of us out of uniform, we're going to be in big trouble," Noa added.

"We're going to have to be really sneaky," Steven suggested. "So the plan is to sneak out of the lunchroom, go to our rooms and change, then head out to the blacktop without being caught. Any questions?"

Connie and Noa shook their heads.

"Good, synchronize your watches!" Steven ordered.

"What watches?" Noa asked, confused.

"Someone said that in a spy movie once," Steven explained.

Noa just slapped a hand over his eyes and groaned.

Later that afternoon, Steven, Connie and Noa isolated themselves from the really loud students so the teachers' attention would be away from them. Then, after Connie looked around one more time to make sure they were completely ignored, she nodded to her friends. The three then dumped their trays and crept out of the noisy room into the quiet hallway.

They walked as quietly as possible to their dorms, silently hoping nobody would catch them. Once in their rooms, they quickly switch out of their uniforms and threw on their casual clothes. Then, they each slipped back into the hall, once again trying to be quiet and sneak outside to the blacktop.

There were moments when there was the creak of a door of slight footsteps that made the trio jump and hide under a nearby table or inside an unoccupied classroom. After what seemed like forever, they finally made it to the back door, which they practically threw open and ran outside.

Steven looked around to be sure nobody else was on the blacktop, which there wasn't, before proceeding to look around. "Lion! We're here! Where are you?" he hollered.

Within seconds, he felt a small weight placed on his head, and the half-gem looked up to see it was Lion's paw. The big cat growled a greeting and sat up, ready to follow any command.

"Okay, we're good to go," Steven said, climbing onto Lion's back, with Connie and a hesitant Noa following suit.

"How does he work? How does he know we have to go to Beach City?" Noa asked.

"We just tell him where we want to go," Steven simply answered. "Lion, we need to go to Beach City!"

The animal roared in response and started running towards the tall wire fence.

"He's going towards that fence!" Noa shrieked, ready to jump off, but Connie grabbed his shirt, preventing him from doing so. "No he's not," the girl assured him.

Lion roared a second time, this time causing a small hole of white light to form on the fencing, surprising Noa.

The big cat then jumped through the hole, and before the trio knew it, they were within the limits of Beach City, approaching a small group of black cars.

"Lion! Stop!" Noa shouted, knowing who the owners of the vehicles were.

The feline screeched to a halt and stared at the cars.

"What is it?" Steven asked his friend.

"I think they're government vehicles," the other boy stated flatly, his skin turning lighter and started to sweat nervously.

Steven nodded and the three preteens got off Lion's back, where they proceeded to enter the city, avoiding any agents they saw. Steven stared at the buildings of the town, full of worry and fear. Most of them were marked with police tape, but the damage was still visible. To think that just last night, everything he had been so familiar with for 10 years had been destroyed and everyone he knew and called a friend was gone.

He ran to the beach, where he ran up the slope that led to his house, which was fortunately still intact...save for the big hole he noticed in the ceiling and the hole in the screen door, which made him worried. He went inside and looked around to see everything else seemed okay...until he saw the door that was supposed to lead to the other parts of the temples.

He noticed it was set on Garnet's room, and when he looked inside, all the bubbled Gems were missing! "Oh no, the monster Gems!" he gasped, before running out of the room. He went back outside, and stated in a panicked manner, "They're all gone!"

"What are?" Noa asked.

"The bubbled Gems! They were these monsters me and the Crystal Gems fought and defeated. They're all gone now! I think someone took them," Steven explained, sweating bullets.

"Calm down, Steven. Let's just try to figure out what exactly happened here," Connie said.

"Hey, what's this?" Noa asked, pulling something out of the ground. It turned out to be a dagger with a light red blade, red crossguards, dark red handle, and a red crystal in the middle of the handle. "Judging by how the crystal looks, I think it might be a Bixbite," Noa stated, examining the weapon, until is suddenly vanished from his hands.

"I've never met a Gem named Bixbite. It must be a Homeworld Gem's weapon," Steven assumed.

Then, something caught his eyes. He noticed a female agent was on her knees and talking with a small child, probably a survivor of the invasion, either trying to calm him, or ask him what happened, but the child's face stayed neutral and almost emotionless. Then, Steven realized who the kid was.

"Onion!" Steven hollered, running down to his friend.

Onion turned around, his eyes widening upon seeing Steven, and ran towards the older kid.

"Onion! I can't believe you're still here! What happened to everyone? Where are the Gems? Where's your parents and brother?" Steven asked right off the bat.

Onion seemed to think about the answers to the questions for a few moments until the agent approached them.

"What is going on? Do you know this boy?" she asked.

"Yeah, his name's Onion. He's one of my friends. I'm from here," Steven explained. "What happened here?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," the agent explained. "But he hasn't said anything at all. He won't even eat. We think he may be in shock."

"Oh, Onion's always like that. Let me talk to him. He might tell me what happened here...if he talks," Steven said.

Then, Onion began to run off in the direction of the slope that led up to the lighthouse. "Onion! Where are you going?" Steven asked his friend.

Onion stopped in his tracks, looked back towards Steven and pointed at the lighthouse.

"I think he wants us to follow him," Connie said.

"Okay. We'll talk to you later, miss. We have to figure out what Onion is trying to show us," Steven said before he, Connie, and Noa started to follow the small boy.

They went up the hill, where Onion was opening the front door, and the four entered the old beacon. They went up the stairs to hear someone typing away on their keyboard.

"Is that-?" Steven started wondering out loud as he opened the door to the lightroom.

The typing person turned out to be none other than Renaldo blogging on his laptop, looking really excited about something, saying stuff like "everyone in the world is going to flip when they see this!" and "this is going to be so good!"

"Renaldo!" Steven greeted his friend.

The teenager turned around in his chair and nearly jumped when he saw the half-gem, but he looked happy to see his friend. "Steven! You showed up just in time! I was just putting the finishing touches on my blog. Something big happened last night, and I want to post it on the internet before the FBI find me and confiscate my footage," the blogger stated.

"You know what happened last night?" Steven asked, happy to hear this fact.

"Well yeah! Like I said, I got video on the entire thing," Renaldo stated, holding up a digital video camera.

"You got footage of the incident! We have to see it!" Connie said, amazed to hear this.

"Let me attach it to my laptop first. The screen will be bigger and you might get a better look at it than on the camera screen," the teenager stated.

Renaldo hooked up his camera to his computer, pulled up the media player, clicked the file where the video was located, and then, after it loaded on the screen for a few moments, he pressed play.

* * *

 **Well, the Crystal Gems are gone, the bubbled monster gems are missing, and the citizens of Beach City, minus Renaldo, Onion and Lion, are all missing.**

 **What occurred last night that caused everyone to disappear and so much damage to the town?**

 **How did Onion, Renaldo, and Lion get away?**

 **Who were the Homeworld Gems that showed up? (if you remember the prologue, you know that Phantom Quartz was one of the Gems)**

 **Find out in the next chapter of Rescue from Homeworld!**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	6. Invasion

"They're really here?" Lapis asked, weakly looking at the sky, where she saw the Homeworld ship closing in on Earth.

It looked like the Green Hand she, Jasper, and Peridot traveled in to get to Earth the first time, but it was white and the fingers were thinner and pointier, like claws.

"Speed it up! I want to get off this planet as soon as possible!" Peridot hollered up at the ship.

"I can't believe it...they really came," Pearl muttered, her eyes growing bigger the closer the ship got and her skin became paler as the fear inside her increased.

"Only this time, their ship will be here in seconds. Everyone! Run from the beach before it lands!" Garnet ordered the nearby people.

Everyone fled from the range of the possible landing zone of the ship and took cover behind benches or inside of buildings.

When the ship was just a few yards above the beach, big drills popped out of the bottom and dug into the sand, forming holes big enough for the fingers to stick inside. After it was finished landing, there was an odd silence.

The Crystal Gems stood vigilantly and Lapis remained on her knees, waiting for whatever or whoever to step off the ship and attack. Jasper and Peridot stared at the hand-ship, awaiting the Gem or Gems who have been sent to rescue them. The humans of Beach City stayed hidden, wondering what was going on and what was going to happen.

Finally, a ramp slid instantly out from a gap between the pointer and middle finger, stabbing into the ground, and a door from the gap opened.

Within seconds, several beings emerged from the ship and examined their landing zone.

The Crystal Gems and humans stood in shock, surprised by the invaders.

Lapis looked down at the ground, wishing that what was happening was just a dream.

Peridot however, didn't have the slight bit of fear on her body and hopped over to the Gems. "It's about time you all got here! Do you have any idea how long I've been here waiting for you to come and rescue me! I have the right to complain to Yellow Diamond about this long wait, you know!" she snapped.

A tall dark purple and black Gem (possibly 2 inches taller than Garnet) stepped up to the green Gem and hissed, "It took a while your message to get to Homeworld, Peri! You should've been more patient!"

"Patient! How can I be patient when I'm one of the most miserable planets in the entire universe! Have you seen these creatures called humans!" Peridot argued, pointing at the humans standing near the scene.

"Well that's offensive, especially since you said it right in front of us," Dr. Maheswaran pointed.

"Yeah, and Earth can't be _the_ worst planet ever. There has to be somewhere worse than us, right?" Peedee threw in.

The purple gem glared at the humans and shouted, "Silence! Or you'll die!"

"Really?" Lars asked. "We'll die if we just commenting on what you're saying? What are you doing to do? Beat us with your magical Gem powers?"

"Lars! Be quiet! I think she's being serious!" Sadie warned her friend.

The mystery Gem just glared at the teenager before her Gemstone (located on the side of her head; her hair is the half-shaved style) started to glow. Within seconds, she summoned a long staff from it, and with a swing, half of it got wider and seemed to have small points growing on it.

After a few moments, she was brandishing a huge spiked club! "Don't think Gem powers are a joke, meer human. I could crush you in an instant if I could," the Gem sneered.

"Purpurite, put your weapon away. You know what our mission is," said a sinister voice.

The she-Gem named Purpurite looked back at the Gem who spoke as her club disappeared, and she said, "Yes. Sorry, Phantom Quartz."

"Phantom Quartz?" Garnet asked.

Then, another Gem came into view. Anyone that wasn't a Homeworld Gem looked up at him in horror...literally!

This Gem called Phantom Quartz must've been twice Rose's height! He was completely white save for the dark brown or black tinge at the torn fringe of this long robe he wore that hid his feet and the ends of his hair that was similar to Malachite's except most of it was longer and was slicked down a bit. He looked at everyone with completely black eyes like, well, a phantom. He grinned his pointed-edged mouth in enjoyment seeing all the terror in all the people's expression, almost as if he was welcomed by it.

Then, the Crystal Gems caught his eyes. He slinked towards the trio and looked down at them, then he leaned down for closer inspection to see if they were really there.

Upon doing that, Pearl pointed her spear in his face, which caused him to move back a bit, but he still had a permagrin. "Well, isn't this a lovely surprise!" he laughed. "Looks like Jasper wasn't lying; you Crystal Gems are still alive. And you've hid yourselves for 5000 years. I must say that is impressive."

"Back off, creep!" Amethyst shouted at the monstrous Gem.

Phantom seemed taken aback by Amethyst's outburst, but he cackled, "AHAHAHAHAHA! Feisty birthstones, aren't you."

The Crystal Gems just gritted their teeth in annoyance, ready to attack at any moment.

Then, Phantom leaned down until his face was a few inches away from Pearl's face and asked in a curious tone, "Say Pearl, you wouldn't happen to know where Rose Quartz is, now would you?"

"Nothing in the world will ever make me tell the likes of you!" Pearl snapped.

"Wait a sec, this guy knew Rose?" Greg immediately asked, wondering who this he-Gem was, especially considering that as far as he could remember, Rose never mentioned him.

Phantom stood up and rubbed his hair back, saying, "Oh, it's really a sweet story. Maybe I'll tell you...maybe I won't."

Greg glared skeptically at the Gem, still wondering what this monster was hiding.

Then, Jasper ran up to the Gem and shouted, "Now since you've arrived. I believe now you should know what happened that caused me trapped here!" Then, the orange Gem began to rant, "Everything was going smoothly! We were about to destroy these traitors when Rose Quartz showed up and interfered! Turns out, Lapis LIED about her presence still around on Earth, and then-."

However, Phantom Quartz must've gotten annoyed by Jasper's monologue, because he pointed a finger at her and move it to the right. As soon as he did that, Jasper's mouth seemed to zip shut and she couldn't speak! She seemed to freak out a bit and tried to pull her lips apart, which proved to be useless and began to jump up and down glaring up at Phantom, as if mentally demanding him to free her mouth.

"I don't care what you have to say about this, Jasper. It doesn't matter anymore," the tall Gem stated.

Jasper narrowed her eyes at him, as if asking, "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"You're wondering what I mean? Well it could do with the fact that after you disappeared, Yellow Diamond demoted you!" Phantom snarked.

Jasper's eyes widened in horror and she stood stiff, barely able to process what she was just told.

"Yes, that's right; Yellow Diamond sees you as useless now. You'll no longer be respected the same way the Diamond Authority treated you before," Phantom confirmed.

Jasper looked up at him, still in shock.

"Let me guess, you're wondering who replaced you as Yellow Diamond's right-hand? Here's a hint: you're looking at that Gem right now," Phantom sneered in the she-Gem's face.

Jasper's face fell, unable to comprehend anything. After a few moments, she gave into her despair by falling to her knees and beating her fists into the sands, trying to scream with her mouth clenched shut. After a few seconds, Phantom Quartz pointed at her and moved his finger to the left, unzipping her mouth allowing her to cry out in agony.

Everyone just stood by and watched, some of them feeling a little sorry for the Gem.

Phantom just sighed satisfyingly, "I adore the sound of agonized cries in the dead of night."

After of few more moments of Jasper taking her anger out on the ground, she finally stopped and got on her feet, still staring down at the ground. Then, her eyes shifted to where Lapis was, seeing she was still pretty weak.

Suddenly, before any Gem could stop her, the orange Gem dashed at the smaller blue gem. "YOU! YOU'RE THE REASON I LOST MY POSITION TO PHANTOM! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" Jasper snapped.

Lapis gasped and tried to get up and run away, but due to her current lack of strength, it was impossible.

Luckily, before Jasper had a chance to lay a hand on the poor she-Gem, another Gem ran up and blocked a fist attack with the flat side of a dark blue blade. Jasper looked up to see the owner of the weapon was a light blue-skinned Gem that was donning dark blue armor, short, slightly slicked back hair, looked like it was the same height as Garnet, and seemed to appear male. This one had a dark blue-light blue striped smooth Gem located on its throat.

"Blue…" Lapis muttered.

Jasper glared angrily at the new Gem and grumbled, "Of course, you had to be here you get in my way."

"Jasper, you really need to contain your rage and express it in a way that doesn't require harming other Gems. You know how it annoys me when I see my friends get threatened," the Gem told the she-gem in a serious masculine voice.

Peridot walked up to the Gem and said, "Well, I see you decided to volunteer on this mission to rescue me, Blue Quartz."

"This isn't completely about you, Peridot. We came for Lapis Lazuli and Jasper as well, along with a couple of extras," the he-Gem named Blue Quartz informed the green Gem.

"What! You cannot be serious! You clods need me if you want these experiments go to smoothly!" Peridot snapped.

"We have Moss Agate to take your place back on Homeworld. He could've done everything in your place," Blue told the she-Gem.

"Excuse me!" Peridot gasped. "I am just as good a technician as he is!"

"At least he still has both his feet," Blue countered, motioning at Peridot's leg that was missing a foot.

Peridot looked down at her leg and then started hopping away, commanding, "Okay, one of you clods better find my foot before I really lose my mind!"

Blue Quartz rolled his eyes as he helped Lapis to her feet. "Are you alright? What did those Crystal Gems do to you?" he concerned.

"Actually, they didn't-," Lapis started to explain to the he-Gem when a voice cried out, "LAPIS!"

Within seconds, a small green Gem, possibly the same size as Ruby and Sapphire, ran up to the she-gem, it's eyes wide in terror and helped Lapis stay on her feet. "Are you okay?" it asked in a shaky male voice.

"I'm fine. Just a little worn out," Lapis assured the little he-Gem.

Garnet observed the small Gem, and after seeing he had a green square faceted Gemstone, her mouth dropping open in shock for a moment before she hollered, "Emerald! Is that you?!"

The green Gem froze in place, seeming to recognize the voice. He turned around and saw Garnet looking at him, where he muttered, "Garnet…"

* * *

 **Well, looks like Homeworld has arrived to do their mission, and we met several OCs.**

 **What could this mean for the Crystal Gems? Why does Phantom Quartz seem interested in Rose? Who are these "extras" Blue Quartz mentioned? Who is this Emerald Gem and why does Garnet recognize him? Find out in the next chapter of Rescue from Homeworld!**

 **Rebecca Sugar own's Steven Universe and it's characters**

 **I own Phantom Quartz, Purpurite, Blue Quartz, and Emerald.**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


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